


The Locked Room Problem

by the_genderman



Series: Trans Bucky 'Verse [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Brunch, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, F/F, Gen, Locked In, M/M, Trans Bucky Barnes, Trans Female Character, civil war didn't happen, talking things out, they're all still friends who brunch together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 22:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11633478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_genderman/pseuds/the_genderman
Summary: “She was going to skip my crepes? I am wounded to my core,” Sam teased. “But in all seriousness, am I gonna have to have a talk with Steve? He hasn’t said anything to me, so if I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably having a little trouble adjusting. He’s the only one of us who knew her before. I wouldn’t have thought he’d have a problem, but he does play his cards close to his chest when he’s upset and trying to figure things out.”“Yeah, he does,” Natasha agreed. “I just think they need to sit down together and talk things over and get onto the same page. They’ve known each other for so long, they’ve been through so much together; they’ve got a lot of history, for good and for bad. I think once they both stop tiptoeing around each other, they’ll be fine.”





	The Locked Room Problem

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case it is unclear, Jennifer is the name I have chosen for Bucky in this 'verse, because she certainly can't be James anymore, and Bucky is too masculine of a nickname, imo. All tags will still be as Bucky, because that's how the tags work here for finding fics.

Jennifer stood in front of the mirror, considering and ultimately rejecting a wispy scarf as an addition to her outfit. It was cute, but she was finding she was less of a fan of ‘cute’ or ‘sexy’ than ‘subtly, but distinctly feminine.’ She gave her outfit—black skinny jeans, capri cut, off-white tank top, black cardigan, long and loose, worn open—one final look-over before turning back to Natasha (who was wearing, of all things, a very un-Black Widow-y floral sundress).

“Who did you say was this week’s brunch host?” she asked.

Natasha paused to recall. “I think the roster’s rolled back around to Sam again.”

“That means Steve’s gonna be co-hosting, doesn’t it?”

“Considering they’ve been nearly inseparable for almost two years now, yeah, probably.”

“Can I call in sick?” Jennifer asked with an exaggerated frown. “I don’t know if I wanna go if Steve’s gonna be playing co-host. He’s been so weird since I moved in here with you.”

“I mean, if that’s what you really _want_ , you can stay here, get room service, but if you do, you’re gonna miss out on Sam’s crepes. They are to _die_ for,” Natasha replied, walking over to Jennifer and leaning her head against her shoulder and meeting her eyes in the mirror.

“Are they worth Steve looking like a deer in the headlights every time we end up in the same room?” Jennifer responded a little sarcastically.

“He’s gonna have to get over himself eventually,” Natasha scoffed. “And the more you’re around him, the sooner that’s probably going to be. It wouldn’t hurt for you to talk things out. I mean it,” she said, as Jennifer gave a sarcastic snort-laugh. “If he makes you too uncomfortable when you talk to him, I’ll beat him up for you, ok? And let’s get down there, anyway. The sooner we arrive, the more time you’ll have to settle in and get comfortable.”

\------------------------------------

Jennifer closed the dining room door quickly and leaned her back against the wall. She shook her head a little and said “I can’t do this. It’s just him and Sam in there, I gotta wait. You go ahead.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her. “You promise me you’re not gonna bolt as soon as I get through that door?”

“Maybe?”

“Babe, I’m sorry, but ‘maybe’ isn’t going to cut it. If you really need a moment to ground yourself, there’s paper bags in the pantry. You can step in there and just breathe into a bag for a bit until you feel calmer, ok?” Natasha petted her right arm gently, using her touch to help her relax. “I’ll even scout the room out and let you know when Steve’s distracted so you can duck in without him noticing that you’ve arrived. I’ll tell him you’re still getting ready or something.”

“Alright, thanks. You’re the best,” Jennifer said, giving Natasha a quick kiss to the forehead.

\----------------------

“How’s things with you and Steve?” Natasha asked, leaning back in her chair a little and accepting a mimosa from Sam. “How’s he adjusting to the administrative side of Avenging? You didn’t need hardly any time at all to pick up his shield tricks.”

“The paperwork still gets him frustrated, but he’s learning the ins and outs. He’s very detail-oriented, and it’ll be good to have someone who knows what it’s like on the frontlines on the Accords panel,” Sam replied, touching his glass to hers. Sam had done all the cooking, so Steve had retreated to the kitchen to get the food into the warming dishes and wash the pans and mixing bowls before things started to get crusty.

“Oh, yeah. Wow. The Accords could have been so much worse,” Natasha said, nodding her head in agreement. “We dodged a bullet there. I’ll drink to that.”

“Not to get off topic, but Barnes went into the pantry about five minutes ago and hasn’t been back out yet. Is she ok? And I’m sorry, but I’ve been so busy lately, I forgot what name she picked. I wasn’t sure if I should ask her directly again in case she thought I was being rude.”

“Jennifer, and she’ll be fine. She’s just hiding from Steve until more people arrive. She feels like he’s been standoffish towards her since she got here and she was seriously considering skipping out on your crepes to avoid him.”

“She was going to skip my crepes? I am wounded to my core,” Sam teased. “But in all seriousness, am I gonna have to have a talk with Steve? He hasn’t said anything to me, so if I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably having a little trouble adjusting. He’s the only one of us who knew her before. I wouldn’t have thought he’d have a problem, but he does play his cards close to his chest when he’s upset and trying to figure things out.”

“Yeah, he does,” Natasha agreed. “I just think they need to sit down together and talk things over and get onto the same page. They’ve known each other for so long, they’ve been through so much together; they’ve got a lot of history, for good and for bad. I think once they both stop tiptoeing around each other, they’ll be fine.”

“Did you have any plans on when you wanted to get them to sit down and talk things over?” Sam asked, glancing towards the kitchen. “Because you two got here really early, and if you wanted, I could send Steve into the pantry for cereal or something and we could ‘accidentally’ lock them in there.”

“I like the way you think, Wilson,” Natasha grinned.

“Hey, Steve?” Sam called out.

“Yeah?” Steve poked his head around the kitchen doorway.

“I don’t remember what kind of cereal Spider-kid likes, do you think you could check in the pantry and see if we’ve got any? If not, I can send Pietro out to buy some real quick.”

“Peter’s coming too? I didn’t know if he’d be available with school and all. Yeah, I’ll check,” Steve said, crossing the kitchen and opening the pantry door. As soon as he was inside, Natasha jumped up, picked up her chair, and wedged it under the doorknob.

\--------------------------

“Ceeeeerrreeeeaalll…” Steve said slowly under his breath as he scanned the shelves, looking for the yellow Corn Pops box. Finding it, he pulled the box off the shelf and turned to go. He froze, box in hand when he noticed Jennifer sitting in the corner of the pantry, watching him warily.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Steve stuttered. “I didn’t see you there. I’m, um, just on my way out.”

Steve walked to the door and turned the knob, but the door didn’t move. He gave it a shove. Hearing scraping, he stopped and knocked. “Hey, Sam? I think the door’s stuck on something. I could force it open, but I don’t want to damage the kitchen floor. Can you come see what’s wrong?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Natasha said, using her ‘I’m a professional, you can trust me’ voice that immediately raised Steve’s suspicions. “We’re taking care of it. Take a few minutes, sit down, relax, maybe have a conversation. We’ll let you know when we’ve got it fixed.”

“I shoulda known she was planning something,” Jennifer sighed, thumping her head against the wall in frustration.

“You knew about this?” Steve said, keeping his voice flat.

“Pfft, no,” Jennifer scoffed. “I said I _should_ have known. Tasha told me to go wait in the pantry until the rest of the Avengers get here so it wouldn’t just be us out there.”

“Sam asked me to check if we had Peter’s cereal,” Steve said, gesturing with the box of Corn Pops that he was still holding. “You think they planned this together?”

“‘Maybe have a conversation,’ she said. I’ll bet money they planned this,” Jennifer said, still looking up at the ceiling, not at Steve. “Conversation. Hah. This is already the longest conversation you and I have had since I got here.”

“It’s only been two weeks,” Steve said without conviction.

“Two weeks of us seeing each other in the halls and not saying more than a stilted ‘hello’,” Jennifer amended. She had started out nervous and uncertain, but when forced into a corner, she bit back. And she thought that being tricked into a locked pantry counted as being ‘cornered.’ “Look, if you’ve got a problem, _tell_ me.”

Steve crossed the pantry and sat down next to her. “Oh, no, that’s not it,” he said earnestly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel that way…” he stopped, catching himself before he used the wrong name. “Sorry. Jennifer.” Steve bobbed his head apologetically. “That’s why. I didn’t want to call you by the wrong name or the wrong pronouns. I’ve been having trouble with that and I didn’t want keep apologizing constantly and making it all about my own comfort. I know it’s not about me.”

“So your solution was to make me think that you didn’t want anything to do with me?” Jennifer said, rolling her eyes but not angry. “ _Great_ idea, Steve. You could have at least told me you were having trouble adjusting to my name and pronouns. I would’ve understood that.”

“Really?” Steve said, surprise on his face. “I thought it would have been rude to go up to you and say something like ‘I’m having trouble adjusting to you not being the man I remember anymore’.”

“Maybe so,” Jennifer shrugged. “But this is a learning experience for me, too. There’s a big difference between playing ‘Madame Zoraya the fortune teller’ with a wig made out of a mop-head in a soldier show and becoming Jennifer for real. And how long have we known each other? I knew it wouldn’t be an overnight adjustment for you.”

“And not to mention when I hear the name ‘Jennifer Barnes’ I get flashbacks to being seven and having your grandma pinch my cheeks and tell me I need to eat something,” Steve said with a smile.

“Oh, jeez. I forgot about that,” Jennifer laughed. “I just wanted a good family ‘J’ name.”

“Well, it suits you,” Steve replied. “And I’ll try to do better. I dunno, elbow me or kick me under the table or something if I mess up so that I know, but so that it’s not super obvious.”

“Thanks. And you better believe I’m going to hold you accountable,” Jennifer said, elbowing Steve playfully.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

A knock on the door startled them out of their conversation.

“We’ve got guests starting to arrive, have you two reached some kind of truce yet?” Sam’s voice came.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Jennifer answered. “Can you let us out now? I was just about to crack open a jar of Nutella to sustain myself, stranded and lost in the wilderness as we are in here.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sam laughed. “Bring that Nutella with you and I’ll make you a chocolate crepe. That sound good?”

“Sounds amazing,” Jennifer answered.

A bumping sound as the chair was removed and the pantry door opened. Jennifer rose to her feet and gave Steve a hand up. Steve walked over to Sam and gave him the box of Corn Pops. Jennifer walked out into the kitchen where Natasha immediately pressed against her side like a cat.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Natasha asked, a teasing glint in her eye.

“I hate you,” Jennifer grinned affectionately. “And ok, you’re right, it did help.”


End file.
